Tooth drive belts and V-belts for motor vehicles are well known. Like other elements of a motor vehicle, belt failure can occur without warning and at inconvenient times and places. Usually replacements for failed belts are available at motor vehicle fuel-service stations, garages, etc. However, where a belt has failed without warning, service facilities may be closed or a long distance away. Even if a service station or other source is reasonably close and open, it may be out of the belt size needed. Without a proper belt to reestablish reliable motive power, the vehicle is useless unless an emergency repair can be made.
A spare endless belt could be carried in the motor vehicle. However, it is then necessary to also carry the proper tools to install the spare belt. The installation of such a belt may require an excessive amount of time because the corresponding drive pulleys or sprockets may not be readily adjustable to receive the spare belt.
In an attempt to resolve this installation problem, interlocking belts were developed. Typically, an interlocking belt can form an endless belt by joining belt ends with a mechanical splice. Usually, a fastener, such as pins or rivets, is used in connecting the ends of the belt. That is, a male belt tongue interfits with a female U-portion so that the belt-teeth of the male belt tongue are aligned with the belt-teeth of the female U-portion. Holes are molded through the aligned belt-teeth (i.e., laterally of the belt) and pins are inserted in the holes for retaining the belts together. In such splices, the pins are responsible for transferring all the forces between the ends of the belt. Often, after a short period of time the pins fatigue and the splice fails. As such, these belts are only a temporary solution and, therefore, must be replaced with a standard non-interlocking endless belt as soon as possible.
Other attempts to develop belt splices include the use of interengaging transversely extending slots in one belt end and a tongue member having projecting "blades" which are received in the transversely extending slots, thus connecting the two slotted ends. This type of belt splice is problematic, inter alia, in its complexity which increases the overall cost of producing the same.
The use of interlocking teeth at the belt ends is also a known method of connecting belt ends. However, while belt splices which utilize interlocking teeth are adequate in interconnecting the ends of the belt as the splice travels between the pulleys or sprockets, they are problematic because that the belt ends may separate as they travel around a pulley.
The present invention overcomes many of the disadvantages inherent in the above-described belt splices by providing a belt splice wherein the ends of the belt have interlocking dovetail-like projections and notches which are pinned together to prevent the same from uncoupling as the belt travels around the pulleys or sprockets. The dovetail-like projections and notches transfer all the forces between the belt ends and interconnect the same without fatiguing the pins in a relatively short period of time. As such, the interlocking geometry of the present invention yields a belt splice which is stronger and more durable than the belt splices of the prior art. Consequently, use of the present invention results in considerable savings in money as well as time.